Re:Gender works to end gender inequity by exposing root causes and advancing research-informed action. Working with multiple sectors and disciplines, we are shaping a world that demands fairness across difference.

Communications, Media & Gender

Mainstream media and the communications sector are still largely male-dominated in management, ownership and representation. Women hold only 3 percent of leadership positions in the sector. And despite the parity of female and male graduates from journalism schools in the U.S., women reporters on average make $9,000 less per year than their male cohorts. New media and the internet are offering new opportunities for women’s involvement, with an estimated 7.3 million more women online than men and 23 million women who use blogs, including the emerging “momosphere,” or moms who blog. A vibrant feminist media is building alliances to combat sexism and amplify voices and critical viewpoints. Initiatives from our network, such as SheSource and the Women’s Media Center, are aiming to address the absence of women as experts and opinion leaders in the public sphere.

There is a crisis of representation in the media. We live in a racially and ethnically diverse nation that is 51% female, but the news media itself remains staggeringly limited to a single demographic.

The media is the single most powerful tool at our disposal; it has the power to educate, effect social change, and determine the political policies and elections that shape our lives. Our work in diversifying the media landscape is critical to the health of our culture and democracy.

Consider the Following Statistics

According to the Global Media Monitoring Project 2010, 24% of the people interviewed, heard, seen, or read about in mainstream broadcast and print news were female. Only 13% of stories focused specifically on women and 6% on issues of gender equality or inequality.

Lately, Fox has increasingly promoted its straight-news talent in the press and conducted some of the toughest interviews and debates of the Republican primary season. Just last week, it hired the openly gay liberal activist Sally Kohn as a contributor.

All along, Fox watchers warned that it risked alienating conservative true believers as it inched toward the center.

Well, consider them alienated.

“To tell you the truth, a lot of conservatives see Fox News as being somewhat skewed on certain issues,” said Patrick Brown, who runs Internet marketing for The Western Center for Journalism, a conservative nonprofit that features stories questioning the president’s eligibility for office. “We actually did a poll recently that said, ‘Is Fox News actually conservative, or has it moved left?’ And some 70 percent of our readers thought it had moved left.”

“Left” is, of course, a relative term.

A casual Fox viewer might barely notice the changes since the network remains critical of the Obama administration and reliably conservative opinion voices, like Hannity and Bill O’Reilly, still anchor key spots in the Fox firmament. But the changes are there.

Where you live affects who you date—and who will absolutely refuse to date you. In honor of Valentine’s Day, the real estate website Trulia commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct a survey looking at the intersection of attitudes about housing and romance. Are homeowners regarded as “marriage material” more so than noncommital renters? Are people more interested in potential mates if they live alone? Just how bad is your love life impacted if you live with your parents? When it comes to dating and housing, what’s hot and what’s not?

Editorial:

From Time:

While owning a home has always been a part of the traditional American Dream, it’s apparently not a deal breaker (or maker) when it comes to dating. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of unmarried U.S. adults said that homeowners had no significant “home advantage” in terms of attracting dates. Only 28% of those surveyed said they’d prefer someone who owned a home. So you can’t really use the fact that you’re a renter as an excuse for why you can’t find a date. Well, perhaps guys can use that more as an excuse than the ladies: While just 19% of men say that they have a preference for dating homeowners, 36% of women prefer dates who own property.[...]

Harlequin, one of the world's leading publishers of reading entertainment for women, today announced its annual Romance Report findings[1]. This year Harlequin took a closer look at the state of romance, confirming that in the age of 4G LTE smartphones, Twitter and Facebook, technology is changing the way women and men communicate with one another – yet certain values seem to withstand the test of time. In fact, the survey revealed that 91% of modern-day women surveyed believe dating rules have become more flexible, but 59% of these women still expect a man to ask her out.

"Today, women consider themselves more independent and powerful than ever before – yet we've found that many of the traditional beliefs about romance, dating and relationships still persist," said Michelle Renaud, Senior Manager, Public Relations, Harlequin. "Additionally, we are seeing new challenges as women are managing their image on a digital level. There is a real need to curate an online persona as much as a real-life presence in an extremely connected society."

Modesty is no longer a virtue in contemporary society – in the news or in real life. Though public scandals involving pop stars and government officials have put a spotlight on the risks of sharing intimate details online, technology continues to play a significant role in women's romantic relationships. According to the Harlequin survey results, which polled single women in the U.S. aged 18 to 40, 43% of all respondents admitted to "sexting" – sending a text message containing suggestive and highly explicit sexual language. Though 65% of those women will "sext" only while in a serious relationship, 36% of casual daters polled admit to sending a risqué message after just a few dates. Twenty-seven percent of all respondents had sent nude photos via emails or text messages.

Meanwhile, some things never change. Fifty-six percent of the respondents reported that they feel pressure to be married or in a committed relationship. The traditional charms of a man, such as a sense of humor (82%) or a killer smile (57%), remain the most popular "turn-ons." Respondents still believe a man should ask a woman out (59%), hold the door for them (54%) and pay for the first date (51%). The women surveyed also counted thoughtfulness and appreciation as definitions of romance, instead of grand gestures or gifts. It's really remembering the small details (reported by 56% of respondents) that matters the most.

Match.com released findings from its second annual Singles in America study – the largest and most comprehensive national study to investigate dating habits, behaviors, interests, and lifestyles of this large segment of the population. The 2012 report delves into sexual behaviors, love and relationships among singles across all categories and stages of life. Today's singles defy traditional gender and age stereotypes, seek new things in romance and partnership, and can draw a parallel between their political party affiliation and their sexual satisfaction.

The catalyst for this reorientation of the election was the rule announced by the Obama administration that employers must provide free coverage in their health insurance plans for contraception. The rule was later amended so that the insurer, not the employer, would pay for the coverage.

This, we're told by NPR, provoked a "firestorm" across the political landscape, as pundits across the ideological spectrum gravely warned the White House of pending disaster if it continued to pursue such a divisive, controversial, and incendiary path. President Obama's entire reelection effort was now in jeopardy -- if not already hopelessly lost -- due to Birth Contracalypse 2012.

In the wake of online discussions about The New York Times coverage, or lack thereof, of female authors, Eugenia Williamson finds that public radio is worse: NPR and WBUR talked about male writers about 70 percent of the time.

In August 2010, the literary corner of the Internet seized in crisis. Editors wrote pained confessions; anonymous commenters called established writers "whiny bitches"; critics made grand pronouncements. One admitted that he couldn't remember the last book he'd read by a woman, while another declared, "[This] brings us to the edge of the precipice of having to re-evaluate what we think is worthwhile in literature."

The catalyst for all this was what appeared to be a rather mild observation shared on Twitter by the novelist Jodi Picoult: "Would love to see the NYT rave about authors who aren't white male literary darlings."

With fellow New York Times best-seller-list fixture Jennifer Weiner, Picoult had caught more than a whiff of sexism in the literary establishment's recent, near-unanimous canonization of Jonathan Franzen's latest novel. In a subsequent interview with the Huffington Post, the pair questioned why the New York Times rarely reviewed their own books positively — if at all — even as they perched atop its best-seller list.

They had a point. Following up on their allegations, Slate confirmed that over 60 percent of books reviewed in the New York Times in the preceding two years were written by men. What's more, when it came to the books reviewed in both the daily Times and the Sunday Book Review, 71 percent were written by men.

While the fracas abated eventually, the underlying problem never went away. Last week — more than a year after the initial controversy — Weiner posted an update to her blog. By her count, the coverage split still hovers around 60–40 in favor of men. While those books the Times reviewed twice saw a marked improvement to a 50–50 split in the past year, Téa Orbreht was the only woman among 10 men to earn the Times trifecta of two reviews and a profile.

My own research has turned up even more damaging statistics. To test Weiner's hypothesis, I turned to another literary gatekeeper: public radio. NPR is one of the few mass media outlets to devote regular coverage to books and novelists. According to their own Web site, 34 million people tune into NPR stations every week, and almost 27 million listen regularly to at least one NPR show. And NPR drives sales: as any bookseller will tell you, a guest spot on Fresh Air sends droves of right-minded Americans scurrying to their local independent.